iSave The World
by Whiffles
Summary: The iCarly gang accidentally transport themselves into the world of FF8, where they get into trouble, make new friends and enemies, and ultimately save the world of FF8.
1. iDisappear

As Carly finished brushing her hair before school in the morning, she logged on to her computer with the few spare minutes she had left. The NEW VIDEO MESSAGE alert caught her eye and she checked her inbox.

"Carly Shay, I know that you think of me as an immature, childish boy. However those days are gone; my birthday is next week and I'll have you know, I am a man now. I would like for you to join me for lunch today. Yes, lunch. I have arranged my schedule at Ridgewood so that our classes will not come between us, my love." Neville informed Carly in his video message right before blowing a kiss. "I put the dishes away last night, mother!"

And then the video stopped.

_This can't be happening. Now he goes to my school?!_ Carly began to panic. _This isn't real. It simply isn't real._

She logged off her computer and locked the door behind her at the same time Freddie and Sam greeted her in the hall.

"What's wrong, Carls? You look like you've just seen a ghost," Sam greeted her best friend as she pulled a pork tenderloin out of the pocket of her purple plaid sweater and bit into it.

"Nevel's going to Ridgeway," she told them.

"What?!" Sam shrieked with a mouthful of pork, spitting it out into Freddie's eye.

"Watch it, would you?!" Freddie complained as he flicked the chewed up piece of meat back at its owner.

"Thi ca be!" Sam babbled in disbelief, her words distorted with the amount of food in her mouth.

"Yeah, and the worst part is he wants to eat lunch with me!" Carly added.

"Are you going to?" Freddie questioned.

"...NO!" Carly responded, offended.

"Are you outta your mind?!" Sam screamed as she slapped Freddie with her tenderloin.

"Ow!" he cried from the floor.

"Sam, what have I told you about hitting people with tenderloins?" she mothered her friend.

"Hitting people with tenderloins isn't nice," she answered in a low, shameful tone.

"Like you care!" Freddie retorted right before Sam pulled out a bottle of barbecue sauce from her other pocket and squirted Freddie in the face with it.

"Sam!" Carly scolded.

-Later that day, at Ridgeway-

"Why won't you just tell us what it is already?" Carly begged her friend.

"Because it's a surprise!" Sam responded, slamming her locker.

"We don't do surprises on iCarly!" Carly reminded her friend.

"It's nothing big! We can do everything as planned while we're sitting in a storage container filled with chicken broth!" she assured them, realizing too late that she had slipped.

"...That's your big plan?" Freddie mumbled in disbelief.

"Where are you going to get that much chicken broth?" Carly questioned with a smirk on her face.

"Aah, don't worry about it," she assured them as she handed out a $100 bill to Ripoff Rodney walking past her. Her friends stood there in silence for a few moments.

"Uh-oh, incoming," Freddie warned as the evil, desperate, repelling little boy approached them.

"Oh Carly Shay, I do believe you and I have a lunch date this afternoon. Where shall we sit?" he asked as he uninvitedly escorted her away from her friends, arm in arm.

"God I hate that kid," Sam snarled as she ripped apart her low-fat fat cake.

"Help?" Carly mouthed as she was dragged away by the lovestruck Nevel.

"I'm gonna get that kid," she said, walking off and leaving Freddie alone.

-Later, in the iCarly studio-

"And that's how you go swimming and drink chicken broth at the same time when you're poor!" Sam announced to the camera in Freddie's hands, up to her neck and curled up in a two foot tall clear plastic storange container filled with chicken broth. When Freddie stopped recording, Sam pushed Gibby's face into the tub of chicken broth that sat beside her.

"Hey!" Gibby whined, surfacing from the chicken broth.

"Alright you can leave!" Sam dismissed, dunking her chicken leg in the broth she lay in.

"Let's go, Gibby," Tasha welcomed her shirtless boyfriend with her hand as they left the studio.

"So Freddie, how's that invention of yours coming along?" Carly inquired, still dripping with chicken broth.

"I think it's ready, actually," he answered. "Anyone wanna test it out?"

"Why don't you test it out? It's your invention," Sam butted in, still in her pool of chicken broth.

"Why don't you test out? Or are you too afraid?" he challenged.

"Why should _I_ test out _your_ invention?" she laughed.

"Free bacon."

"Mama's not afraid of anything," she replied, getting out of her makeshift pool and grabbing the bag of bacon from Freddie, "So what am I doing, Fredward?"

"Okay just sit right here," he directed her to a chair hooked up to heavy machinery.

"You're sure this is safe?" Carly worried.

"Of course it is. I invented it," he reminded her as he fooled around with some switches. "I'm setting the target destination to very low, so she should re-appear five feet away from her current location." The low buzz of the invention began. At the touch of a few buttons, Sam disappeared.

A few moments passed. She was still gone.

"Where's Sam?" Carly questioned, panicking.

"Don't worry, she'll be back in 3... 2..." he tried to calm her down, but she still wasn't there.

"Where is she?!" she asked again, angrily, and grabbing him by his shirt.

"Jeez... I... I-"

"I'm going after her," she declared, sitting where Sam was. "Send me to where she is!"

"If you just sit there, it's still on, but-" Carly cut him off.

"But what? Sam's like a sister to me and I'm not just gonna watch her disa-"

Freddie now stood alone in the iCarly studio. Worried, he looked around, waiting for a minute for them to return, his thoughts racing as he anticipated their safe return.

_No, Carly can't disappear. If Sam never comes back, why should I care? She'll just torment me if she comes back. But Carly..._

Freddie sat down in his invention while it was still running, fearlessly awaiting whatever would happen to him as he would soon be where Sam and Carly were.


	2. iWake

"Why do you smell like chicken broth?" Spencer asked Gibby, eying him on his way out the door.

"Sam's idea," he quietly responded.

"Oh," Spencer mumbled, "would you like to stay for spaghetti tacos?"

"No thanks, I have to get home and finish my homework," Gibby declined. "Almost forgot my shirt. I'll be right back." He reversed his direction of destination and headed back to the empty iCarly studio.

"Freddie? Carly? Sam?" Nobody responded. He struggled before finding his shirt on the floor beside Freddie's teleporter. As he sat down on the teleporter, prepared to put his shirt back on, he observed the room and listened in on the buzzing noise produced by the transporter. His shirt fell from his hand and back onto the floor where he retrieved it from.

-Downstairs-

-"I wonder what's taking Gibby so long," Tasha thought aloud, "Maybe I should go check up on him." She headed after her boyfriend, high heels clanking against the staircase.

"When you go up there, would you let Carly know the spaghetti tacos are done?" Carly's older brother hollered after Tasha.

Once in the studio, Tasha saw no trace of her devoted boyfriend, Carly, Sam or Freddie, but spotted his gray T-shirt by the teleporter. She picked it up from the ground and then focused her attention on the puddle of chicken broth which lay on the teleporter.

-Meanwhile, on the outskirts of Balamb-

"It's about time you guys woke up!" Rinoa said softly to Carly, still half asleep. The young girl's eyes focused in and out, closed and then opened, repeatedly as she tossed and turned on the green grass beside her motionless friends. Propping herself up with her elbows, she managed to get out the three words everyone was expecting.

"Where am I?" she asked groggily, but everyone could hear the fear in her tone.

"Balamb," Quistis answered her, noticing the drowsy girl still couldn't comprehend, "Where are you trying to go?"

"The studio... I was... and..." Carly could barely speak. Just then, the terrified fifteen-year-old saw a gunblade only inches away from her face, charging nearer, exponentially faster.

"Aahh!" she screamed, afraid for her life and unable to dodge the gunblade.

-Meanwhile, on Rinaul Coast-

Gibby awoke to the slaps of a fish fin against his face, instantly startling him.

"What's your problem?!" he shouted as he was still being attacked, in awe of this creature he had never seen before. The fiery orange fishtail attacked him once more. Gibby retaliated with a powerful punch, sending the fish into the air, where he finished it off with several more punches. After defeating the monster, Gibby saw something in the distance. A person in the middle of the ocean, waving for help. As he ran out into the ocean, closer toward this person, he realized who it was.

"Tasha!" he yelled as he fought the force of the water against him until it was simpler just to swim. About a hundred yards away from the shore, Tasha, who just thought she was moments away from certain death, was now being safely carried back to shore.

"Look, there's people! Maybe they can help us!" Tasha suggested as they neared the shore, noticing people not far from the beach where Gibby was.

-In the distance-

"Why did you just attack me?! And why didn't that hurt?!" Carly snapped at the stranger wielding the weapon, waking up her friends in the process.

"I wanted to wake you, but I didn't want to hurt you," Squall explained.

"Or waste his magic," Rinoa jokingly added.

"What are you talking about?" Carly questioned, standing up defensively.

"Yeah, what are you nubs talking about?" Sam repeated, standing beside her best friend.

"It's okay, I junctioned you while you guys were asleep-" Sam cut Irvine off with a punch to the face, knocking him to the ground.

"You pervert!"

"I guess I deserved that..." the defeated cowboy mumbled from the ground below.

"Does somebody mind telling us what's going on?" Freddie raised his voice to the six strangers.

"No problem, man," Zell began while Selphie dug out a Hi-Potion+ from the back pocket of her yellow dress and gave it to Irvine, "We're SeeDs. Well, most of us. We got a mission and came out here when we found you guys lyin' on the ground."

"So why did that guy attack Carly?" Sam wanted to know.

"Oh, Squall? He wasn't attacking her. He was waking her up. Physical attacks get rid of sleep. And Confuse. You don't know anything about battles, do you?" the blonde-haired boy continued. When given no response other than looks of confusion, he finished, "We equipped you with GFs and magic while you were asleep. We made sure you'd absorb ice, which is Squall's elemental attack. That way, we could wake you without hurting you."

I still don't get it, Carly thought to herself just as she saw Sam squinting at something in the distance.

"Is that Gibby?" she wondered out loud, looking at the shirtless boy approaching them from the water. Carly observed carefully and then flagged him down.

"Gibby!" She shouted at the top of her lungs as Sam and Freddie assisted grabbing his attention.

"You know those people?" Squall asked the young strangers.

"Yeah, that's Gibby and Tasha! They're the last people we saw before we got here," Carly told them, smiling with relief to see a familiar face.

"Thanks for getting us lost here, Fredward!" Sam yelled as she slammed Freddie into the ground.

"Sorry! I don't know what else to say!" he cried as his left cheek met Sam's hardened fist.

"Leave it alone, Sam. He didn't mean it," Carly calmly instructed her, watching her slowly back off as Zell wrinkled his nose.

"You guys smell funny," he thoughtlessly pointed out, earning himself a spot on the ground right next to Freddie.

"That hurt more than usual," Freddie pointed out, still holding his cheek.

"That's just the junctioning," Selphie informed him as Gibby and Tasha were no longer swimming toward them but walking in the shallow water.

"Well mama likes this 'junctioning.' Tell me more about it!" Sam's eyes widened as she spoke. Instantly, Carly, Freddie and Zell let out a simultaneous, "No, don't!"

"No offense, but what is that smell?" Quistis seconded, Carly holding Sam back by the waist to prevent her from attacking anyone again.

"Chicken broth," Freddie answered, now standing, and giving Zell a hand up.

"What's chicken broth?" Selphie innocently asked, cocking her head to the left.

"Oh my God you don't know what chicken is?!" Sam screamed, shaking Selphie by the shoulders.

"You talk funny. Where are you from?" Rinoa asked Sam.

"Seattle."

"Seattle? Where in Hyne's name is that?" Rinoa returned.

"It's in Washington," Carly calmly added, although annoyed.

"Where's Washington?" Quistis questioned.

"South of Canada, in the United States of America, which is north of Mexico!" Freddie irritatedly replied in a raised tone while Squall fiddled with his phone.

"None of those places are even on the map," he confirmed while Zell and Freddie whispered to each other.

"I hate that girl already."

"Tell me about it. Try dealing with her on a daily basis."

"You two nubs know I can hear you!" the vicious blonde informed the boys, shooting them an angry look when she turned around.

"I'm Zell Dincht," the tattooed blonde introduced, offering his hand.

"Freddie Benson." They shook.

"Hey Carly!" Gibby, soaking now but with ocean water instead of chicken broth, approached his friends on foot from just feet away, hand-in-hand with Tasha. Carly, eager to see another friend from home, ran toward Gibby and Tasha, throwing her arms around the both of them, covering them in chicken broth.

"Gibby! Tasha! What's going on here?" she questioned.

Her shirtless friend answered her with an unpleasant, "Carly, we've got bad news."


	3. iRun

"You don't say! Gibby, where are we?" Carly reminded her friend that they were lost.

"How should I know?" the boy returned. "I woke up on that beach like five minutes ago!"

"Then why did I wake up in the middle of the ocean?" Tasha wanted to know. Dumbfounded, the three looked out into the ocean.

"Squall!"" Carly yelled, noticing Sam and Freddie approaching quickly, followed by Squall.

"Where were we when you guys found us?" Carly questioned when the man arrived.

"Right over there, where everyone else is," he pointed.

"Then why did we all wake up in different places?" Tasha questioned.

Squall stood silently for a few moments, contemplating a reason for this. He looked back at his friends, then out to the sea from where they stood on the beach. Looking ridiculous but not caring about appearance, he turned to his side, arms spread eagle and looking left and right. Finally, he drew his Lionheart gunblade, holding it so it appeared to stand on the sharp edge, drawing a very short line between where his friends were and the ocean from which Tasha came.

"That's definitely a straight line..." Squall mumbled, darting off. "Quistis!"

"What the hell's going on?" Sam looked at her four friends, who were clueless.

"What are they talking about?" Carly asked, staring into the distance at Squall and Quistis conversing with odd gestures. The lost teenagers watched as Quistis looked in their direction and then back down at something Squall had laid out on the ground. He looked at his teacher with one hand on the ground as they squat, and the other hand back out to the foreigners. Quistis looked at everyone, who seemed to be checking their pockets for something when Zell waved them over. As they neared, Selphie handed Quistis a clicky pen she had just retrieved from her right boot. Quistis flipped over the thing which laid on the ground - a map - and began jotting down numbers and symbols nobody else seemed to understand.

"Time?" the productive blonde asked.

"17:35," Squall responded after checking his phone.

"You guys have four hours and twelve minutes to get back home," Quistis confidently informed them.

"WHAT?" the foreigners screamed, shocked.

"Four hours?" Sam repeated in disbelief.

"And twelve minutes," Selphie reminded.

"That's if you make it to Fisherman's Horizon," Quistis added.

"Fisherman's Horizon?" Freddie questioned.

"You guys can't go!" Gibby suddenly warned them.

"Well how else are we gonna get home, ya nub?" Sam insulted.

"You can't leave yet," he began.

"Why not?" Carly obliviously asked.

"You guys don't know?" Gibby added in disbelief and then turned to Sam, "Maybe you should tell them."

"Tell us what? ...Sam? What did you do?" Carly began furiously interrogating her friend. Freddie gave Sam a death stare.

"I don't even know what this nub's talkin' about," she angrily answered.

"About Miss Briggs and Nevel Papperman," he answered her, watching her eyes sink back in shame.

"What happened to them?" Sam mumbled.

"Nevel is in the hospital," Tasha explained, noticing Sam smirking.

"Sam? Are you laughing?" Carly scolded.

"Well that wasn't what I was aiming for, but I can't help it, it's just so funny!" she laughed.

"As much as I hate Nevel, I have to admit that putting him in the hospital isn't funny," Freddie confronted.

"What'd you do to him?" Carly demanded, curious and concerned, although slightly uncaring.

"I was defending you Carly. You guys remember that locker security system I had?" she giggled.

"The defective one?" Freddie recalled.

"Yeah, that's the one..." she answered with a mischievous smile still upon her face, "Let's just say I found someone who could use it more than me."

"Sam!" Carly tried to be the serious-natured disciplinarian she always was to her best friend, but couldn't help laughing at the thought of Nevel getting shocked to the point of hospitilization just from opening his locker.

"Guys!" Tasha shouted over them, "What are you going to do about this? Squall, are they going to be stuck here forever?"

"No, of course not," he explained, "they can go home any time they want."

"If they catch the portal," Quistis reminded everyone. "It appears to be going in a circle around the world. There should be more than enough chances to go back home. In the meantime, if anyone else pops up around here-"

"Oh God, it won't take long before my mom finds out!" Freddie interrupted, panicked.

"Aah, no! I don't wanna be stuck with that lunatic in a foreign place!" Sam complained, proceeding to slap Freddie. "This is all your fault!"

"Guys, stop it!" Carly demanded their attention, "Everything's gonna be fine. We'll just stay here until we figure out what to do, and then go back. Gibby, Tasha, can you find the portal and make sure no one else gets through?"

"In exactly twenty-four hours, it should be right here again," Quistis butted in before Tasha or Gibby could respond. "The best thing to do would be to just wait here for it in Balamb."

"That might not be enough time! What if Nevel - or worse - Freddie's mom - finds their way here?" Sam flipped.

"Then you guys are screwed," Gibby responded.

"Yeah, no shit," Sam retorted.

"If Mrs. Benson finds her way here no doubt she'll find all three of you and take you back home," he explained.

"No prob, we'll just hide somewhere like a private residence," Carly suggested as everyone looked at Zell.

"No way! My house isn't big enough! And it's too close to the portal!" he announced defensively.

"What about Garden?" Rinoa suggested.

"Listen to me!" Gibby interrupted. "It doesn't matter where you guys are, Freddie's mom will find you guys. That's what I've been trying to tell you! I overheard her talking to Spencer about a chip in his brain-"

"I'm CHIPPED?" Freddie immediately shrieked, his eyes showing a disconnection between himself and the real world.

"What a mama's boy," Sam joked.

"Shut up, Sam!"

"If it's that serious of an issue for you guys, we can get it removed if you'd like. Of course, you guys would have to be separated for a few days so you can't be found," Rinoa began explaining.

"Are you a doctor or something?" Freddie jumped to conclusions.

"No, but Squall's dad can get you to a doctor. He works with a guy..." Zell added on, being cut off by Carly approaching him.

"Hey... just so you know," Carly whispered to Zell, "don't let Sam know where this doctor is. If Freddie's mom finds her way here, she'll tell her where he is for sure."

"Gotcha," he whispered back, before proceeding to face the others, and scratching his right nostril 4 times, a signal the SeeDs have come up with to say, "I'm about to lie to protect somebody in this area. Play along." Although it was not in the Garden book, and hardly any other SeeDs used this gesture, these particular SeeDs found themselves using this signal alot.

"Rinoa means, there's a guy in, uh, Timber, that would be more than happy to do this operation. After all, we all know him pretty well."

"We can go right now if you want, but you'll have to figure out where you guys are going to stay. If you want, since we'll be gone, you can share my dorm until we return," Squall offered as they took their leave with Freddie.


	4. iTravel

"So what all have you done to get yourselves into this much trouble?" Quistis inquired.

"Most likely, if you knew, you wouldn't want to help us," Carly quickly assumed.

"She's right. I'm a baaaaaaaaaad girl," Sam confirmed.

"I could never judge two girls as pretty as you for doing anything," Irvine commented, earning him a slap across the face from his girlfriend.

"If you don't want to tell us, that's fine, but you seem like trustworthy people, so it probably won't change anything," Selphie reassured them.

"Trustworthy? Hah. Well, it's a long story. I don't want to get into it now," Sam mumbled as she pulled out a perfectly sealed blueberry muffin from her pocket and began eating it.

"Do you always carry around muffins in your pocket?" Zell teased.

"Nah, sometimes I carry a chicken sandwich, other days rice krispy treats, on Mondays though, I usually have a can of chili... mmm... chili." Sam drifted into her own dream world full of all sorts of food ranging from potato salad and steaks to donuts and oatmeal pies.

"So, how long will it be until Freddy comes back?" Carly wondered out loud.

"Should be sometime this week. A few days, probably. Depends on how soon they can get in, but since Squall's dad is really good friends with this doctor, he can probably get in right away."

"And you're sure this doctor knows what he's doing?" she worried.

"He'll be fine," Quistis reassured her.

"I am so screwed when we get back home," Sam nervously laughed. "I've never done something so bad! I'm so nervous but it feels so good..."

"Sam? Snap out of it," Carly commanded.

"Whoo-hoo!" Selphie suddenly burst into joy as she lay eyes on a banner for the Volleyballoon tournament at Balamb Garden. "My nomination for the new official sport of Balamb Garden won!" she started to jump excitedly.

"Volleyballoon? What's that?" Sam was curious.

"Well, it's... let's play! That way I can explain better," Selphie answered.

Meanwhile, Squall and Rinoa have just arrived at Esthar Air Station with Freddie.

"Whoa!" Freddie said in amazement as he stepped outside of Esthar Airstation. "This place is so... high-tech!"

"Welcome to Esthar, Freddie," Rinoa cordially welcomed the boy.

"Esthar? I thought you said we were going to Timber," Freddy realized.

"I think your friend told Zell to keep it a secret. He gave us the signal to lie and play along with it. If you want to know why, call Zell or your friend," Squall answered.

"Probably had something to do with Sam giving away my whereabouts... I have to thank Carly for that," Freddy mumbled as three strange men and a girl greeted them.

"Squall! Good to see ya. So this must be Freddie?" one of the men assumed as the girl with them gave a hug to Squall, and then one to Rinoa.

"Yeah, I'm Freddie... who are you?" he awkwardly greeeted.

"Squall's dad. I'm Laguna, president of Esthar. Nice to meet you," he held out his hand, and Freddie shook it.

"Nice to meet you too, sir," Freddie replied.

"This is Ward and Ellone," a second man said while pointing to the others. "My name's Kiros. We're friends of Laguna's."

"Can we just get on with it? Freddie has an emergency that needs to be fixed immediately. We can chat later," Squall tried to hurry up the conversation.

"What? Oh, right. The Chip. I gotta warn you Freddie, Dr. Odine can be a little scary... and weird... and strange... but I assure you, he's a good doctor. Don't let him scare you. Hahaha," Laguna assured the boy as they walked forward.

. . . . .

"I hope we win," Carly told Sam as she slipped under the covers in Squall's dorm.

"Yeah, and get a year's supply of free steaks," Sam agreed, smiling at the thought of food.

"I wonder what the prize will really be," Carly said, yawning and drifting into sleep.

"I don't know, but whatever it is, it better be worth whacking around balloons all day."


	5. iPlay

"It's about time you two showed up!" Quistis scolded the young girls as they approached her.

"Hey, don't look at me. I'm not the one who decided to not get out of bed," Carly stated, looking at Sam.

"We're up first. We'll be playing against Seifer, Fujin, and Raijin first. Since the rules are the teams have to be even, one of us has to be out. Then we'll switch during the second half," Selphie told them, her eyes fixed on the scoreboard and rules.

"Okay, so which one of us has to be out?" Sam inquired.

"The rules say 'the other team, at a disadvantage, gets to choose which player is out,' " Selphie answered.

"Where is the game, anyway?" Carly wondered out loud.

"We don't know yet. It hasn't been announced yet," Selphie responded.

"The game starts in five minutes, so there should be an announcement soon," Quistis commented.

"So it looks like we'll be playing against you," Seifer greeted the girls.

"You? You're our challenge? But you look so..." Sam couldn't seem to put her thoughts into words as she saw the opposing team.

"What, huh?" Seifer encouraged.

"Sam, don't antagonize the other players. He's just greeting us," Carly kept her best friend under control.

"Heh. Yeah, what she said. Well I'm just here to find out what kind of competition I have," he stated before walking away.

"Good luck, Seifer," Quistis teased, knowing how he would respond.

"Save those words for a bad player who needs them."

"Alright then. Good luck, Seifer," Quistis giggled as Seifer paused, clenching his fist.

"Ladies and gentlemen, students and visitors of Balamb Garden, the new annual sport of Balamb Garden will begin soon. First challenging teams, please proceed to the 2F Hallway. First players are Seifer, Fujin, Raijin, Quistis, Selphie, Carly and Sam. Will these members please meet on the 2F Hallway now," Headmaster Cid announced as the seven players boarded the elevator and stepped out onto the hallway.

"Seifer's team, you may now choose one player from Selphie's team to be excluded during round one," Cid announced as Seifer, Fujin and Raijin huddled to discuss who should be voted out.

"Get rid of the little brunette. She seems feisty, ya know? Might cause us problems," Raijin initiated the discussion, followed by a kick from Fujin.

"WEAK. ELIMINATE CHALLENGE," Fujin offered her opinion.

"Yeah, Fujin's right," Seifer said before stating the selection. "Quistis, you're out!"

"Me? ... Guess I don't have a choice. Good luck, guys," she said before heading back to the elevator.

"Uh... Seifer..." Raijin began, cut off by the announcement proceeding the game.

"Here are the rules. No interference..."

"Please don't say 'no magic'..." Selphie mumbled with closed eyes and crossed fingers.

"No items. Number of strikes per person in a row are unlimited. Items are placed strategically throughout Garden, marked A and B. Selphie's side will be Side A. Seifer's side will be Side B. Do not let the balloon land on your side and do not let your items get knocked over. Do not pop the balloon. You may not carry the balloon. The first team to reach 1000 points wins. Good luck! Let the games begin!" Cid finished his announcement.

"He didn't say no magic!" Selphie exclaimed upon casting Triple on herself.

"What is she doing?" Carly wondered as the white balloon slowly fell from the ceiling. Seifer, following Selphie's moves, also casted Triple as Fujin darted toward the balloon, slamming it into the air. As Carly slapped it back in their direction, Selphie casted Float on herself, Sam and Carly all at once.

"Yeah! That's what I'm talkin about!" Sam screamed as she flew off the balcony after the balloon.

"Haste!" Selpie casted, followed by Seifer casting Float on his team. Selphie glided towards the balloon, slamming it into Seifer's direction, as Sam pummeled a floating Seifer, protecting the balloon. As Carly ran toward Sam at bulletspeed, kicking off the wall she confined herself to, Selphie advantaged her teammates even further.

"Silence!" she casted on Seifer, Fujin and Raijin as Carly blocked the opposing team from Sam, who swung at the balloon until it was out of her reach on Side B of Balamb Garden. They could hear the cheers for Selphie's team from the audience on the first level and the bridge. Quistis, who seemed to never be too enthusiastic about anything, was especially rooting for her teammates while the opposing team, all inflicted with Slow, tried their best to catch up with the balloon.

"Fujin!" Raijin addressed from halfway across Garden, calling her over to him as if to formulate a winning strategy, confusing both Seifer as well as the opposing team.

"What the hell are you guys doing?" Seifer scolded as Sam knocked over a bottle of sleeping powder marked 'B 100' and the scoreboard lit up to -100:0.

"DAMMIT!" Fujin shouted, realizing her team had just lost 100 points over a bottle of sleeping powder.

"Yes! Way to go, Sam!" Carly cheered while blocking Seifer's way toward them. On the opposite side of Balamb Garden, confusion struck everybody as Raijin continuously attacked Fujin.

"Raijin! What the hell? Knock it off and keep playing!" Seifer scolded, once again, unaware of their plan.

"Is that a legal move?" Carly asked Selphie, just before a sudden, strong burst of wind, seeming to come from nowhere, caused the balloon to fall on Side A, Selphie's side, of Balamb Garden. Everybody was speechless about what happened, until Seifer broke that silence.

"Whoa! Fujin, nice move!" he cheered as the scoreboard now read 400:0.

"And that's half time. Volleyballoon teams, take your break and be back here in five minutes."


	6. iStrategize

"I'm gonna go get myself some meat," Sam informed her teammates as she headed toward the cafeteria.

"Don't forget to come back in five minutes!" Carly reminded her as she trailed off.

"Hey, Sam, right?" Seifer greeted once again, "pretty good game."

"Uh huh," she replied, not paying any attention to the boy.

"So, I was-"

"What the hell? Is this the line for the hot dogs?" Sam complained loudly, cutting Seifer off.

"Yeah, and they're still in stock! Yeah, baby!" Zell, at the front of the line, responded, eagerly awaiting his hot dog.

"Hey, aren't you playing that Volleyballoon game? Why don't you guys let her get her food first since she's on break," the lunch lady kindly suggested, "Can't play a game without food for energy!"

"How nice of you, thank you," Sam replied, followed by sticking her tongue out at Zell as she approached the front of the line.

"Sorry honey, but that was the last hot dog," the lunch lady told Zell after handing the last one to Sam.

"WHAT? That's it, I've had it with you!" he screamed at Sam in jealousy.

"What are you gonna do, huh?" Sam asked arrogantly, followed by silence. "Yeah, that's what I thought. Run along now, chicken-wuss." She shooed the tattooed blonde away, making her way back to the bridge.

"You call him that too?" Seifer attempted to get her attention once more, following her.

"Yeah what's the big deal? ...weirdo," she rolled her eyes as she walked on by, followed by Seifer still trying to gain her attention.

"Well I was just wondering, you know... maybe if when this tournament is over, you'd want to-"

"No chance," she rudely declined with a smirk on her face, ignoring the boy.

"Sam! Come here! Selphie wants to talk to us all," Quistis caught her attention as Carly waved her hungry best friend over.

"What's up?" Sam greeted with a mouthful of hot dog.

"Selphie has a new strategy for round 2," Carly answered.

"Alright what is it?" Sam questioned after swallowing a big bite of hot dog.

"First, we all need to be equipped with a GF. We'll all use the abilities Auto-Haste, Auto-Reflect and Expendx-3. That way, when we play, we'll automatically have those spells cast on us and they can't be removed, and we won't waste any spells. Next, we'll all need to junction Silence to our Status defense in case one of them tries to Silence us like we did to them, but it won't work. Next, we'll all junction a wind spell like Aero or Tornado to our Elemental Attack so that when we hit the balloon, it'll go farther than usual. Instead of having GF and Magic command abilities equipped, I'll equip Treatment and Recover. That way if we get hit with any other status attack, I'll be able to immediately get rid of it, and if Raijin attacks Fujin until she gets her limit break, I'll heal her so she can't use her attack. One of you will summon Cerberus to cast double and triple on us all, and cast float and any other spells we can't automatically junction. Got it?" she explained.

"Sure," Sam replied, finishing off her hot dog.

"Okay," Carly agreed, still a bit confused but lacking the energy to try to understand.

"We should probably get back to the bridge now. It's been about five minutes," Quistis warned just before an announcement confirmed her suggestion.

"Quistis," Seifer greeted as the four girls left the elevator to continue the game, "you're in. Selphie, you're out."

"WHAT?" she shrieked in disappointment.

"Look on the bright side," Carly consoled her new friend, "that means you're good. If you weren't, they wouldn't see you as a threat."

"What, am I not good enough? I hit that balloon pretty far!" Sam interrupted, angrily.

"You were very good. Seifer just doesn't like us, so he thinks he's punishing Selphie by kicking her out. Good thing he doesn't know you girls," Quistis reasoned.

"Well... I suppose you're right," Selphie replied to Carly, facing the ground, just before exchanging junctions with Quistis. "Quistis, kick their butts!"

"Roger."


	7. iSeek

"Ze effects of ze sleeping powder may ztill be in effect," Dr. Odine stated as Freddie's friends hovered over him post-op as his eyes slowly began to open.

"Okay, so when's he gonna wake up?" the president asked for the third time in the past five minutes.

"Vill you stop azking ze doctor zis? I do not know!" the doctor returned angrily.

"Well if he doesn't wake up soon, I'll wake him up myself," Squall commented, drawing his gunblade to the boy's face.

"Squall, stop!" Rinoa interrupted, "Look! His eyes are open!" Squall returned his gunblade to where it came from and stared at the sleepy boy in silence.

"How are you feeling?" Ellone asked in her usual soft voice.

"The chip's gone?" Freddie asked with one hand on the back of his head.

"Ze chip haz been removed," Dr. Odine confirmed, observing a smile on Freddie's face.

"You'll probably want to get back to your friends," Laguna suggested.

"Is he good to go?" Kiros added.

"Of course he iz good to go! It vas a chip removal not surgery of ze spine!" the doctor angrily confirmed, thinking Kiros was a moron for asking such a question about such a minor surgery.

"Well then, shall we get going?" Laguna asked as Rinoa approached with a tray full of food unfamiliar to Freddie.

"I thought you might be hungry, you know, what with the surgery and being in an unfamiliar place and all, so I got you some food," Rinoa offered, putting the tray in front of him.

"Oh, how nice of you. Thank you," Freddie thanked before questioning the food that stood before him, "uh... what is this?"

"Barbecued Jelleye with a side of Balamb fish sticks," she answered.

"It smells really good," he replied, still not really knowing what his food was, but too hungry to care. Inhaling his food before biting into it, Freddie smiled at the scent and taste of this new exotic cuisine.

-Meanwhile...-

A loud knock on the door caught Spencer's attention from the bathroom, where he had been for the past half hour. "Come in!" he yelled from the bathroom, assuming it was that cheeseless vegetarian pizza he had ordered half an hour ago.

"It's locked!" a female voice responded, rushing Spencer to flush the toilet, zip his pants up and wash his hands as fast as possible. After he was finished he ran to answer the door to see a familiar face patiently waiting outside in the hallway.

"Oh, it's just you," he greeted, disappointed, "Come on in, Sam."

"Were you expecting someone important?" she wondered aloud as Spencer closed the door behind her.

"I was expecting the pizza guy," he answered sadly. "Did you forget something?" he asked, not even stopping to think that Sam never left.

"I'm looking for Freddie. Oh, and Sam is my sister. I'm Melanie," she politely stated.

"Oh, right. I forgot she had a sister. Yeah, he should be upstairs in the iCarly studio," he directed, pointing to the stairs, heading back toward the bathroom wondering why Sam's sister had shown up not to see her, but Freddie, as Melanie's heels clanked against the wooden staircase. As Spencer could hear Melanie's footsteps trailing off, he turned the light back on and locked the door. Before he could put his bare bottom back on the toilet seat, he was interrupted once more by the young girl.

"Freddie? ... Sam? Carly?" she called, but with no respond. She reached into her pocket for her new pear phone and dialed Sam's number, but for some reason the call wouldn't send. She tried again with Carly, and then Freddie. "Spencer!"

He jumped off the toilet once more in response to Melanie, "What?"

"Freddie's not here... Neither are Sam and Carly. Do you know where they might have gone?" she asked sweetly, in a tone that made the difference between her own voice and her sister's.

"I never saw them leave... and I've been downstairs the whole time," he responded, becoming curious as to how they could have left without him knowing. He became confused and then worried. _The bathroom? No, I would have heard them leave. Carly would have said good-bye and let me know where she was going. Could they have snuck out? Why would they all sneak out? Were they going somewhere they didn't want me or their parents to know about? Why is she hiding things? She's a good kid... But not if she's hiding things. I have to get to the bottom of this._

Without another thought, he headed upstairs, followed by the good twin in the Puckett family.


	8. iCry

"Whoo! Go Carly! Go Sam!" the contestants heard Gibby's voice in the crowd, but tried to remain focused on the game. As Quistis smacked the balloon one final time, sending it to the floor on Side B, many cheers rose from the audience. Carly looked down at her two friends and smiled before approaching them.

"Hey Gibby, hey Tasha. What brings you back here?" Carly became curious.

"We're sorry, Carly," Tasha apologized before informing them of their current situation.

"We can't go back," Gibby cut to the chase, watching their victory smiles turn upside down in a flat second.

"What? Why?" the iCarly girls asked.

"The portal only works one way. We can't get back home!" Gibby announced in a panicky tone.

"Oh no," Carly worried,

"YES!" Sam screamed.

"Why is that good?" frustrated Carly demanded to know, thinking of how she may never see her beloved brother again. How she would finish school. How her family and her friends' families would probably look for them for the rest of their lives but still never find them. Poor Mrs. Benson. She'd probably die of a heart attack.

"How is that bad? I'm off the hook, we don't have to go to school anymore, all our close friends are here. Well, close friends and Fredward. He'll never see his mom again, we don't have to answer to anybody, why do you have a problem with this?" Sam laughed.

"What about Spencer?" her best friend began, beginning to pace back and forth. "What about Mrs. Benson? What if they can still come here? Then we'll be stuck living with them and with no escape!" she screamed, tears flowing out of her eyes as she ran toward Squall's dorm.

"I better go check on her," Sam suggested just before getting swooped off her feet in victory by a cheering crowd.

"Hey put me down!" she ordered, losing sight of Carly. Before the crowd could reach the real victor in the game, Quistis followed Carly.

Once in Squall's dorm, Carly threw herself on the bed, burying her face and sobbing.

"Is it really that bad here?" Quistis inquired upon entering. Unaware that she had been followed, Carly jumped up, wiping the tears on her cheek onto Squall's sheets.

"It's not that," she began, eyes still burning red, "I just never thought I'd be in a situation like this. You know, I have a brother at home who's probably worried nuts about me."

"I understand," Quistis began to console her as she sat on the bed beside her, "when I was young, I lived in an orphanage. One day, I was taken into foster care and had to move away, and you bet the one thing on my mind the most was how I would miss my orphanage brothers and sisters, and if they would miss me. If we'd ever see each other again. But sure enough, it all happened for a reason and we all found each other again, and it's like we were never separated. We're still a family and nothing can change that."

"But this is different, Quistis. We're in two completely different worlds. How will we be reunited?" she worried as Quistis pulled her close to comfort her, wiping away her tears.

"The portal still works one way, right? What if he uses it and comes here? Then you're sure to find each other again. I'll even help if you'd like. I'll help put up posters of your brother in case he finds his way here, and direct him to wherever you are."

"But then if he finds his way here, so will everybody else. And you do NOT want to cross paths with Freddie's mom. She's a wackjob! She'll make your life miserable!" she ranted.

"Tell you what. We'll go to Esthar and find Freddie, and maybe he can make a new transporter to get you guys back home."

"Do you think it'll get us back in time for our web show?" Carly wondered.

"A web show?"

"Yeah, we do one every week. This week was supposed to be a special web cast," she began informing Quistis. "We were going to throw a birthday party for my brother Spencer."

"How long did it take Freddie to make the first transporter?" Quistis asked.

"I don't know... he was working on it for about two weeks in the studio but he wasn't always there. Maybe a couple hours or so each day before the show," she answered, hoping her answer was accurate so they could get an estimate of when they could be back home.

"Hm, at that rate, if we leave today he should be able to finish it in time for you to get back," she figured.

"I sure hope so..."

"I'm sure everything will work out in the end. Just don't give up," Quistis stated.


End file.
